For those who don’t know the tool: SynthEyes by Boris FX is a dedicated 3D camera tracking and matchmoving software used across film, VFX, and advertising production. It interfaces smoothly with Nuke, After Effects, Fusion and other DCC applications, delivering fast, precise solves for integration of CG into live action. Part of the Boris FX Suite, SynthEyes sits alongside tools such as Mocha Pro, Continuum, Sapphire, and Silhouette, forming a tightly integrated pipeline of visual effects and finishing plugins.

Free matchmove mastery – for a limited time

Boris FX has announced SynthEyes Essentials, a new training series designed to teach both the conceptual foundations and practical workflows of matchmoving in SynthEyes. The package, usually priced at USD 95, is available as a free premium download until 31 December 2025.

The offer includes over three hours of professional instruction, spread across eighteen videos, with accompanying project files and sample footage. The series is taught by Boris FX product specialist Christoph Zapletal, a long-time VFX artist and trainer – and Digital Production’s own Compositing, Flame and Star trek Author.

Topics include matchmove theory, camera solving, AI-assisted workflows, roto masking, lens distortion management, mesh generation, and object tracking. Boris FX positions the series as a comprehensive, concept-driven training rather than a feature-by-feature tutorial. If you want to learn what you are doing, and not just which button to press, this is the course for you.

What do you get?

Across eighteen lessons and twelve blocks, SynthEyes Essentials builds a structured learning path from theory to application. It starts with conceptual understanding, progresses through tracking, solving, calibration, and ends with practical export and integration workflows. Each block is designed to be modular, allowing artists to focus on specific parts of the matchmove process or follow the series sequentially for a full onboarding to SynthEyes.

Foundations and Core Concepts

The course opens with an Introduction and a clear explanation of the Underlying Concepts of matchmoving. These first lessons establish the theoretical foundation of what camera solving actually does, namely mapping 2D image data into a consistent 3D coordinate space. Christoph outlines how SynthEyes interprets motion, focal length, and parallax, giving artists a solid base before they begin working hands-on. This section sets the tone for the entire training: conceptual understanding first, tools second.

Tracking Workflows

Once the principles are clear, the series moves into practical tracking. Lessons on Automated Tracking and Supervised Tracking demonstrate SynthEyes’ two primary approaches to extracting tracking data. Automated tracking covers point generation and solving for shots that can be processed algorithmically. The supervised section focuses on when and how to step in manually: tuning track points, correcting drift, and controlling motion paths when the automated system struggles. Together, these chapters establish a complete understanding of tracking strategies for real production footage.

Solving and Refinement

The next stage is “The Solver Room”, where all the accumulated tracking data is converted into a working 3D solve. The solver section demonstrates how SynthEyes interprets the camera’s path and reconstructs the scene’s geometry. The training then introduces Roto Masking, showing how to isolate moving foreground elements or exclude unwanted regions from the tracking process. This not only improves accuracy but also keeps solves stable in complex or occluded shots.

Lens and Calibration

Zapletal then focuses on optical parameters in three consecutive chapters: Lens Distortion, Lens Calculation, and Lens Calibration. These lessons explain how real-world lenses introduce distortion, how SynthEyes models and compensates for it, and how to calculate or calibrate lenses from footage or reference data. This block is particularly useful for artists working with varying cameras or mixed-format source material, where lens data is inconsistent or missing.

Coordinate Systems and Scene Setup

The two lessons titled Coordinate Systems Part 1 and Part 2 explain how SynthEyes handles scene orientation, scale, and alignment. Understanding coordinate spaces is crucial when exporting solves to downstream 3D applications such as Nuke or Maya. These chapters ensure that solved data lines up correctly with CG scenes and compositing environments, avoiding scale and rotation mismatches in later stages of production.

Mesh Generation

The Mesh Generation Part 1 and 2 chapters explore SynthEyes’ built-in mesh tools. Artists learn how to create proxy geometry that helps verify solves, anchor objects in space, and visualise tracking quality. These lessons demonstrate both automated and manual mesh workflows, preparing users for typical use cases like ground plane setup or background modelling for compositing reference.

Object Tracking

Next, Object Tracking Part 1 and Part 2 move beyond camera solves to show how SynthEyes handles independent object motion. This section is key for shots with multiple moving elements—cars, props, or handheld devices. It explains how to isolate and track objects independently while maintaining a consistent world space between multiple solves.

Export and Integration

The final three chapters deal with transferring the finished solve to other applications. Zapletal demonstrates exporting cameras, point clouds, meshes, and nulls to standard 3D and compositing packages. Topics include export format choices, scaling conventions, and verification of data integrity. The course closes with best practices for integrating SynthEyes results into downstream VFX or editing pipelines.

Availability and next steps

Artists can download SynthEyes Essentials for free via the Boris FX webshop until the end of December 2025. From 1 January 2026, it will be priced at USD 95 for the premium download, though the videos will remain freely viewable on the Boris FX website. As with any training-based workflow adoption, users are advised to validate techniques and settings against their own production data before deploying in critical pipeline stages, but, after we have seen a few of the videos, this one will be useful for pretty much everybody.

The post SynthEyes Essentials Training is here and Free for the Holidays first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Mocha Pro 2026 is out, and Boris FX’s Emmy and Academy Award-winning planar tracker returns with an update that focuses on refinement rather than reinvention. The 2026 release adds new AI-driven roto and matte tools, smarter 3D-solve cleanup, and a rebuilt Curve Editor, all tuned to make shot-fixing and cleanup faster and more predictable for working compositors.

The update also aligns with VFX Reference Platform 2025, adding support for Qt 6.5.4 with PySide 6, Python 3.11, OpenEXR 3.4.5, Alembic 1.8.8, and FBX 2020.3.7. This ensures fewer pipeline compatibility issues in studio environments.

Matte Refine ML: AI for tricky edges

The new Matte Refine ML system expands Mocha Pro’s machine-learning masking family, which already includes Object Brush ML, Matte Assist ML, and Face ML. It analyses existing masks and automatically refines soft or semi-transparent edges which is useful for hair, fur, motion blur, and defocus.

Two refinement modes are available: one optimised for soft motion or blur, the other for sharper edges. Additional post-processing sliders (Black Clip, White Clip, Edge Grow, Shrink/Grow, and Blur) let artists fine-tune how transparency and detail are blended along the edge.

For multi-layer composites, the new Group Layer Mattes option merges multiple layers into a single matte clip, improving render and playback performance. Combined with Matte Assist ML, this creates an efficient path from object masking to refined alpha without intermediate renders.

Refine Solve: faster, cleaner 3D tracking

The Refine Solve tool targets 3D camera solves that have drifted or accumulated bad data. Using the Clean Up Features dialog, users can delete unstable or short-lived tracking points, then recalibrate the existing solve without starting over.

Because Refine Solve builds on the original solve data, it preserves previous adjustments such as ground-plane alignment or scene scaling. For extended tracking and finishing, the refined data can be exported directly into SynthEyes for further cleanup. The result: faster iterations and fewer re-solves for 3D match-move tasks in complex shots.

Blips and 3D

Technically, Mocha’s camera solver identifies trackable “blips” in the image and converts them into 2D trackers, which are then triangulated into static 3D feature points. The software measures the average deviation between the 2D trackers and 3D points as HPix (horizontal pixel error). A low HPix value signals a stable camera solve, while spikes in the error curve expose moments where the 3D reconstruction drifts. These spikes often correspond to unstable track data caused by motion blur, occlusion, or minor parallax inconsistencies.

The Clean Up Features system provides targeted filters to address these issues. It can automatically disable feature points during high-error frames, discard very short or inconsistent trackers, and remove features that contribute excessive deviation. Once unwanted data is removed, Refine recalibrates the existing camera without re-solving from scratch, updating only the relevant calculations while maintaining previously established orientation and coordinate systems. This allows technical directors to preserve scene alignment and object placement while improving solve precision.

Refinement should be applied only when the base camera movement is physically plausible. If the initial camera path is incorrect or erratic, a full re-solve remains necessary. However, for typical production shots where the solve is broadly correct but slightly unstable, this incremental workflow offers a reliable way to tighten accuracy, lower HPix variance, and maintain alignment integrity across multiple refinement passes.

Curve Editor rebuilt for modern pipelines

After a long hiatus, Mocha Pro’s Curve Editor makes a full return. The interface has been rewritten from the ground up, with tighter integration between the Dope Sheet and Graphs panel. Artists can now visualise tracking, roto, and camera-solve data as curves, then smooth, zoom, or isolate problem areas directly. A new offset-curve overlay in the Adjust Track module displays how refinements affect the original track in real time. Filtering options allow users to display only keyframed parameters or selected spline points, helping to pinpoint problematic data without clutter.

Smaller but useful refinements

Beyond the headline features, Boris FX lists numerous “quality-of-life” updates under the hood. Playback of refined mattes no longer requires separate rendering, and composite mattes can now be applied directly in other Mocha render modules, such as Insert or Remove.

Mocha Pro 2026: Pricing and availability

Mocha Pro 2026 is available as a standalone application and as plugins for Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Foundry Nuke, Blackmagic Fusion, Autodesk Flame, and VEGAS Pro. Subscription pricing starts at €42 per month or €290 per year. Perpetual licences (from €675), upgrades, and support plans are also offered. Customers with active Mocha Pro or Boris FX Suite subscriptions receive the 2026 update at no additional cost.

Reality check

While the AI-driven refinements and rebuilt Curve Editor mark significant usability improvements, studios should validate performance and matte accuracy in controlled conditions before integrating Mocha Pro 2026 into production pipelines.

The post Mocha Pro 2026: Refined, re-solved, re-edged first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Boris FX adds a full professional audio toolchain to its Suite bundle. The Academy and Emmy Award–winning developer now includes Sequoia, Samplitude, and Music Studio, three Digital Audio Workstations covering recording, mixing, mastering, live workflows, and entry-level creation. The move extends the Suite’s scope from VFX, tracking, and postproduction toward a combined audio–video environment, after aquiring them earlier this year. The DAWs are integrated into the Boris FX Hub, meaning subscribers gain access without additional cost.

With audio now bundled alongside Sapphire, Continuum, Mocha Pro, Silhouette, SynthEyes, CrumplePop, Optics, and Particle Illusion Pro, the Suite reaches eleven applications under one license.

Sequoia is the flagship DAW for high-end, mission-critical work. Its feature set spans classical recording, multitrack mixing, professional mastering, immersive formats, and real-time broadcast CMS integration. It is widely used by Grammy award-winning mastering engineers (Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Sam Smith), touring engineers for acts such as the Foo Fighters and Depeche Mode, and European broadcasters including Radio France, ARD, and ORF. The system’s reliability in long-form acquisition and precision mastering workflows makes it one of the most established DAWs in the professional audio market.

Samplitude addresses studio-based music production with a hybrid audio engine focused on transparent processing. Key features include object-based editing, independent project switching, advanced comping, support for up to 999 tracks and 256 I/O channels, and a configurable export system for stems, ranges, and full sessions. It targets producers and musicians who need a flexible DAW with large-channel-count capabilities.

Music Studio provides an entry-level path for creators, offering simplified composition, recording, mixing, and mastering. It features a streamlined interface and a library of virtual instruments, loops, and genre-spanning samples. The tool is designed for quick creativity and early-stage music production without the learning curve of studio-grade systems.

The Boris FX Suite subscription remains priced at €990/year or €147/month, covering all supported host applications, including Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, and OFX hosts (Autodesk Flame, Foundry Nuke, DaVinci Resolve, VEGAS Pro). A Black Friday promotion runs November 24–30, offering a 25% discount on the Suite or individual products.

The post Boris FX Suite Expands with Three Audio DAWs first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The 2026 edition of Sapphire refines Boris FX’s long-standing effects suite with new filmic textures, advanced transitions and workflow improvements. The focus: creative control with physical authenticity. Let’s go throug the new tools!

FilmBurn: The analogue heartbeat

The new S_FilmBurn effect reconstructs the look of “over”non-traditionally”-exposed film using high-resolution scans of damaged celluloid. Instead of overlaying stock footage, the plugin generates procedural flashes, flares, and edge burns entirely within Sapphire.

Artists can combine multiple light bursts, tune flicker frequency, and shape each flash’s hue and softness. Additional modules replicate scratches, dust, grain, hairs, leader markings and sprocket edges. Each component is independently keyframeable and blendable via combine modes such as Add or Overlay.

Presets like Silver Halide or Sepia Sulfide emulate specific chemical film responses, while the FilmBurn Transition version extends the look into motion edits, replacing hard cuts with organic light wipes. The effect is available across all major Sapphire hosts.

MochaWhip: Motion with precision

MochaWhip Transition fuses Mocha’s AI-based masking with Sapphire’s Whiplash engine to deliver tracked, subject-aware whip edits. Foreground and background motion can be driven separately, allowing smooth hand-offs between clips. The transition suits fast-cut sequences and stylised energy transitions, integrating directly into the host without pre-compositing. And, you know, Mochas excellent Mask ML.

Pro Lens Flares: Eight new optical models

Sapphire 2026 adds eight handcrafted flares based on real cinematic lenses. The collection includes strong anamorphic streaks, diffused bloom effects and chromatic internal reflections. Each preset maintains physically-plausible flare fall-off and spectral behaviour, designed for both realism and stylised grading work. Use those as a ready preset, or change them to your needs.

Grunge Stamps: Real-world texture capture

The S_Grunge module expands with new scanned materials: oil paint, chalk, ink, sponge and other tactile surfaces. These high-resolution “stamps” supply a physical texture base for titles, motion graphics and surface distress work.

Effect Builder: Easier visual logic

The Effect Builder receives one of its most practical updates yet. Parameter links, the connections driving relationships between nodes, are now visually displayed. Lines appear between linked parameters, colour-coded to indicate driver and driven nodes. Hovering reveals contextual data about what controls what. This seemingly minor change significantly improves readability for complex, multi-node setups.

The Builder also consolidates preset browsing across all Sapphire effects. Users can search, tag and favourite looks globally, or isolate only those marked “new” for the 2026 release. Presets can be edited or rebuilt from scratch, then shared seamlessly between hosts. Parameters exposed in one application remain intact in another, enabling consistent pipelines across Avid, Adobe and Resolve environments. Combined with the new visible linking, this cross-host portability makes custom effect design more transparent and maintainable.

Builder presets and advanced nodes

New “Advanced Presets” demonstrate complex node combinations, using FilmBurn, DuoTone, and Hue-Saturation stacks as modular examples. Each preset exposes only the most relevant host parameters, reducing clutter for editors while maintaining full Builder control.

The improved Builder enables rapid prototyping: layer nodes, link parameters, and adjust controls visible to the host, then export the preset for facility-wide use.

Workflow considerations

The new film-scanned effects and multi-layer composites may increase GPU load. Tests should confirm playback and render speed on specific hosts. For predictable results in colour-managed pipelines (ACES/OCIO), users should verify how FilmBurn and Grunge interact with graded footage.

Availabilty and Pricing

Sapphire 2026 supports Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer and everything compatible with OFX-Plugin-Connections. The update runs on both macOS and Windows, with native support for Apple Silicon and modern NVIDIA/AMD GPUs.

Licensing remains subscription-based OR perpetual. As of publication, a new annual licence for Sapphire (Multi-Host) starts at 125€ per Moth, going down to 40€ a month anually, and perpetual licences from 2720. Existing users with subscriptions obviously receive the 2026 update at no additional cost. A free, fully functional trial of Sapphire 2026 is available via borisfx.com/free-trial.

The post Sapphire 2026: Film Burns, Whip Cuts & Builder Love first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.